The Jewelers’ Security Alliance is sharing security tips for jewelry stores and business ahead of Memorial Day weekend.
New York—Last week, the Jewelers’ Security Alliance sent out an alert about a rash of “high-tech” burglaries impacting jewelers from Maryland to California, an alert that’s particularly pertinent ahead of a holiday weekend.
These burglaries are more involved than a typical breaking and entering, normally involving cutting through a store’s roof or sidewalls, disabling the alarm system and using jammers—which are illegal to buy and possess—to block the cellular back-up system, and gaining entry to the safe.
“These are not fly-by-night burglars; these are professional burglary crews,” JSA Executive Vice President Scott Guginsky said in an interview Wednesday.
In the alert, JSA said it has received reports of professional crews targeting stores in five states between February and mid-May.
The list includes two stores in Cook County, Illinois, the center of the Chicago metropolitan area—one on April 20 and one on May 10—as well as five stores in California.
This security camera still from a Los Angeles jewelry business that was broken into on May 13 shows two would-be burglars using a cell phone jammer. (Photo courtesy of Jewelers’ Security Alliance)
The most recent professional burglary recounted in the alert took place in Los Angeles.
According to JSA, on May 13 at approximately 10:30 p.m., at least three individuals broke through a common wall that a second-floor jewelry business, which is not open to the public, shares with a neighboring business.
The suspects disabled the alarm system and cellular backup by employing a cell phone jammer that emits green light (seen above) but fled without taking anything.
Guginsky said the industry has seen a spike in high-tech, professional burglaries recently.
JSA’s annual crime statistics report for 2024, released this week, shows that while the number of crimes against U.S. jewelry business dropped 12 percent year-over-year, dollar losses rose 7 percent, primarily due to on-premises burglaries.
The organization noted in the report that the industry saw a significant increase in the severity of losses resulting from professional burglaries perpetrated by “highly mobile” gangs from South America.
Guginsky said professional burglary crews don’t roll into town the day they plan to commit a burglary. They come in as much as a week ahead of time, often staying in short-term rental housing, and watch.
They watch when and how jewelers close up their stores, sometimes setting up cameras behind the store, in the woods adjacent to the store, or on a nearby roof that they can watch from their cell phone.
Guginsky said the perpetrators also could be sending people—sometimes a man and a woman, other times just a man—into the jewelry store they are targeting to case it, to see what the layout is and what type of jewelry and watches are in the display cases.
They will be people unknown in the community who may ask questions that have nothing to do with buying jewelry, like asking to use the bathroom or inquiring about the store’s hours for the holiday weekend.
He said crews also have been known to put GPS trackers on jewelers’ cars, and recently there have “multiple” recoveries of cameras placed around jewelers’ houses, such as in a flowerpot outside.
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Ahead of Memorial Day weekend, Guginsky offered the following tips for jewelers, many of whom might be heading out of town and/or closing their stores for longer than usual.
— Make sure the emergency call list is updated. There has to be someone who’s available to respond if there’s a communication error, power failure, unusual motion activation, etc., at the store.
“Jewelers have to take this seriously, especially heading into a holiday weekend. They have to be on high alert and they have to be responsive to their stores,” Guginsky said.
— If someone has to go to the store, go with the police and make sure they inspect all access points—all the doors, the roofs, and any walls that abut another business.
— Do not ignore red flags, meaning any unusual pre-holiday weekend incidents that happen in or around the store.
— Don’t keep laboratory grading reports in the safe with the diamonds.
— Don’t leave jewelry out over the holiday weekend because if the perpetrators can’t get into the safe, then they will take what they can get.
— Don’t cover showcases.
— Whoever is closing up on the last day needs to be cognizant of the fact that they might be being watched. They should circle the parking lot and make sure there are no suspicious vehicles circling the store.
— Advise and educate landlords/property owners and the local police of the rash of professional jewelry store burglaries.
“You should always make friends with your local police,” Guginsky said. “Let them know what’s going on.”
